Combination theft-notice and illuminated license-plate.



Pateuied Oct. 2U, HHS.

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UNITED STATES PATENT onnron.

GEORGE D. GILMORE, DE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

COMBINATION THEFT-NOTICE AND ILLUMINATED LICENSE-PLATE.

Application filed December 26, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnome l). (.irbMonn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles. in the county of Los Angcles and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in CombinationTheft Notices llIlCl Illuminated License-Pletcs of which the followingis n specification.

llly olfocl is to make 2: li ense plan: lol' automobiles and the like.the license piste haying menus h; which it may be inul ilntecl. nu l theow i p; rlisn crim nal to indicate that 'lnwmomnllile is. lin ng:iilogz'nlly hirer-riled.

\zwllw: oliji-ct of hi5. ll lii il li '1 mm himimiiilninhlo liners-1nplate with l tail light. the tail light serving :is 2!. rim-sun lorilluminating the license plate.

My invention consists in the novel. fentures herein shown, described andclaimed.

Figure l is u fragmentary rear elevation of on automobile, showing mycombination theft notice and illuminated license plate in use, therendin of the license plate being mutilated to indicate that the use ofthe automoble is unauthorized.

Fig. 2 is a view in elevation of the license plate with its readingrestored to normal condition to indicate that, the use of the car isauthorized.

Fi 3 is 2. vertical crosssection on the line of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged. fragmentary rear elevation of the license plateas shown in Fig. 1, parts being broken away to show the construction.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail through the lock and taken on theline 5-5 of Fig. 6, parts being shown in a locke position.

Fi 6 is a fragmentary front elevation lookin inthe direction indicatedby the arrow 6. in Fig. 5.

Fig.7 is a Yiew analo ous to Fig. 5 and taken on the lines 77 0 Figs. 2and 8, the lock being shown in position to remove the key: and leave theparts unlocked.

ig. 8 is a. fragmentary front elevation as indicated by thearrowB inFig. 7.

Fi 9 is a. cross-section on t e line 9-9 of Fi and on. a. planeparallelwith Fig. 8.

i i 10 is a fragmentary sectional detail on the lines 10'10.of Figs. 2and 4.

The bracket 1 is adapted, to be secured to the lower face and rear endof the body 2 of the automobile by an attachin plate 3 and bolts 4.. Thebracket 1 exten 5 down- Speclficntion of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29, 1918.

Serial No. 208.800.

nnrdlv and bacliwnrdly and has an attaching plate 5 on its rem: end,said attaching plate 5 being inclined at an angle of about f0rty-fivedegrees relative to a horizontal or vertical line. The tail lighthousing has :1

vertical front. plate 6 in which the lamp socket Tis fixed and the lump8 is mounted Hi the socket 7 inside of the housing. Upper and lowerinclined wells ii and in extend- 1 r 1 i i it, id... l (lil arectangular plate fitting against i' e rim l and rigidly secured inplace by bolts and nuts 13. The body piste 12 has perforated and linedfigures 14 in position to he reed-- able from the hack of the automobilein light and in position to be illuminatedfrom the lamp 8 so as to bereadable at night; The certificate of ownership 15 is a brass or othersimilar plate secured to the only 12 RE. the opposite end from thefigures 11 end nl'iove the some 16 of the The mutiiatnble figure l? islined and perforated upon ii circular (ii .1 mid l: guru 17 beingadapted to match n iill th figure ii to mak the license plate numlwr isshirt n in Fig. 2. A circular recess 19 is formed in the i n g u I body12 and a circular opening 20 1S Ina-1n Bracket arms :22 extenddiametrically inwar-(11y from the flange 21 to so port a beer ing 23,said arms being incline bnckwnrdly from the body 12 so as to locate thebearing 23 a. short distance back of the body 12. An escntcheon cylinder24 is rigidly fixed. through the center of the disk 18 and the keycylinder 25 has a screw-threaded stud 26 extending from a shoulder 27through the bearing 23, and a jam-nut 28 upon the stud 26 jams aainstthe bearing 23 to hold the key cylin or 25 from. rotating and solhet the escntcheon cylinder 24 may rotate with the disk 18, the disk 18fitting in the recess 19. The State seal 29 is secured to an indieatinghandle-3O formed integral with the disk 18 and extending outwardly infront of the body 12 in position to normally cover thecertificate ofownership 15 when the figare 17 is in its normal position, as in Fig. 2.It is intended that when the indicating handle is moved upwardly to anangle of forty-five degrees relative to a vertical or horizontal line,as in Fig. 1., the certificate of ownership will be uncovered and thefig-- ure 1'? will stand at an angle relative to the remaining figure 14so as to mutilate and disarrange the number of the license and when thedisk 18 is in this position it is desired that the parts of the lock 31shall be in their locked positions so as to hold the figure 17 frombeing righted. When in this position the parts are locked and the automobile. left to stand with the license number mutilated so that if anunauthorized person or a thief attempts to run away with the automobilethe condition of the license plate will indicate to a traflic oflieer o1to any one paying attention to the matter, that the automobile beingstolen or being operated by an unauthorized person. A spring 33 isconnected to one of the arms 22 and to the escutcheon cylinder 24 like aclock sprint, the tension of the spring being exerted to move the disk18 from its normal position. A notch 3-l is formed in the edge of thedisk 18, a flat spring is secured against the rear face of the bodyplate 12, and the free end of the spring is turned backwardly to engagein the notch 34 to hold the disk 18 n its normal position. as shown inFig. 2. A second leaf spring 36 is secured against the' back plateofjthc body 1:? at right angles to the sprl g 35, the 'free end of thespring 36 press ng forwardly against the center of the spring 35 and apush-button 37 is fixed upon the free end of the spring 36 and extendsthrough the body 12 so that the catch may be operated from the rear ofthe automobile. i A stop 38 is secured against the rear face of the disk18 to engage one of the arms 22 and limit the rotation of the disk underthe tension of the spring 33.

\Vhen the license number is normal, as in Fig. 2, with the seal 29extending horizon- .tally and the figure 17 matching with the figures 14to produce the complete license number, the automobile is ready for use.When the automobile has been driven to a standing position, as in agarage or parked, the operator presses the push-button 37 to release thecatch 35 and the spring 33 retates the disk 18 to throw the indicatinghandle 30 upwardly to throw the seal 29 out of line with the number andto partly rotate the igure 17. .In this position the stop 38 holds thedisk 18 in position for the tumblers 39 to enter the key cylinder 25 andthe parts are locked and the license number mutilated to indicate thatthe automobile is out of use and to indicate to anyone seeing theautomobile traveling upon a highway that it is being stolen or used byan unauthorized party. ln order to return the license numher to itsnormal position it is necessary to insert the key 32 into the lock toraise the tumblers 39 out of the key cylinder, then rotate the dish isagainst the tension of the spring until the catch 35 engages in the slot$34 to h ld the disk 18 in its normal position.

'l. hen it is necessary to remove the key from the lock. r

A slot 40 is formed in the escutcheon cylinder from the key cylinderbore kl. at an angle of forty five degrees relal ire to the tumblerbores 42 so that when the dish 18 has been rotated to its normalposition the slot ll} will be in position to receive the cylindertumblers l3 and allow the her to be ulilulraum, said, cylinder tmohlersgoing up into tluslot 40 as they pass the points it tail light and anilluminated license 1111111 her and a theft notice The device iscompactly built and thoroughly fastened to gather so that there is noway of restoring the number to normal condition except by the use of theproper key and the device mounted upon the automobile by the use of asingle substantial bracket.

It is thought that when the license number is mutilated in accordancewith my in- \ention a thief or unauthorized borrower will hesitate totake the automobile and that if he does take the automobile he ispublishing to all passersby and trafiic ofticers the fact that he isoperating a. stolen car. The theft notice will be as apparent in thenight as in the day and any tamper- :ing with the theft notice or theextinguishment of the light will simply make the theft still moreconspicuous.

Instead of making one of the figures of the license number movable, thename of the State might be made movable to mutilate the reading of thenumber, or any intermediate one of the figures may be nnzvable insteadof the first figure.

A thief might cover u) the first figure and thereby d sguise the actthat the numher was mutilated.

While I have here shown the preferred construction of'my combinationtheft notice and illuminated license plate as now known to me, it willbe understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes in theconhousing and having lined and perforated figures, and .a second numberplate movably mounted and having a lined and perforated figure normallyreading with the other figures and ada ted to be disarranged to mutilatethe num. er.

3. A- license number comprising a rigid plate having figures upon itsouter face. a second plate movably mounted upon the first plate andhaving a figure normally reading with the other figures and adapted tobe moved to mutilate the number, and a key lock for controlling thesecond plate.

4-. A license number construction comprising a lamp housing, a numberplate forming one side of the lam housing and ham ing lined and erforatefigures and having; a recess exten i from its outer face, a sec ondplate rotate 1y mounted in the recess and having a lined and 'erforatedfigure, an indicating handle exten ing from the second plate, a sealmounted upon the indicating handle, the handle beinghorizontal with thefigure when the figure is in normal position to read in the number; andlook and key means for holding the handle and figure out of normalposition to mutilate the number and for restoring the number to normal.

5. A combination theft notice and illuminated license plate, comprisinga tail light, an illuminated license number behind the tail light, andlock and key means for mutilating the license number to give notice oftheft, and to restore the license number to normal, as desired.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

GEO. D. GILMORE.

